Industry Insights

The global Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) market size was estimated at USD 1.5 billion in 2016. Improvement in the resolution power and attachment of other devices such as energy x-ray dispersion spectrometer are expected to propel market growth over the forecast period.

Key reason for the success of scanning electron microscopes is that they are widely used by small to medium scale R&D institutes and pharmaceutical companies. They provide researchers and quality assurance personnel with data regarding surface morphology and properties such as topography, chemical analysis, fractography etc. Furthermore this segment is expected to register fastest growth rate of 11.3% over the next seven years.

Key drivers of the market include increasing demand of nanotechnology-based research and consequent rise in funding. Furthermore, growing application in semi conductor, electronics and pharmaceutical industries are expected to propel the growth over the forecast period.

As nanotechnology has applications in most of the areas of semiconductors, material sciences, and life sciences that substantially affect the economy of any nation, it promotes government organizations and other corporate enterprises to support the R&D via public funding. . According to the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative, public investment in nanotechnology grew from zero in 2000 to approximately USD 65 billion in 2011.

Semiconductor device manufacturing requires microscopes extensively for procedures such as lithography, coating, failure analysis and detection. Growth of the semiconductor industry at a rapid pace in nations such as India and China, owing to the outsourcing of electric equipment manufacturing in the region is a major driver of the scanning electron microscope market.

Increasing global focus on R&D for applications such as neurosciences, material sciences, life sciences, nanotechnology, and semiconductor industry would increase the adoption rate for advanced and automated microscopes such as scanning probe microscope, analytical electron microscope and scanning electron microscopes. These microscopes provide imaging resolution as high as 0.1 nm, which is necessarily required for these precision manufacturing industries.

These applications are sub-segments of the semiconductor industry, which are recently gaining enormous demand in the market. According to Moore’s law, the semiconductor industry is constantly moving towards the miniaturization of transistor chips. These trends of miniaturization of transistor chips requiring advanced microscopes such as TEM, SEM, and SPM for analytical and quality assurance purposes will provide great market potential over the next seven years.

End-use Insights

Pharmaceuticals dominated the overall market in terms of revenue share in 2014 at 30.3%. Increasing prevalence of chronic diseases leading to increased R&D expenditure and demand for digital microscopes in the fields of life sciences and medicines are some factors attributing to its large market share.

Key end-use segments analyzed in the scanning electron microscope market include pharmaceuticals, automobiles, steel & other metals, electronics & semiconductors and others. Automobiles segment is likely to grow at the fastest CAGR of 11.1% over the forecast period, due to its high function in surface observation, film thickness analysis, failure analysis of metallic and non-metallic parts, fractography, coating analysis.

Regional Insights

Asia Pacific held the largest share in 2014 at over 38.0%. Rapid growth witnessed in application areas such as semiconductors, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and nanotechnology in this region is the key factor accounting for its significant share. Growing demand for advanced scanning electron microscopes for the range of material research is expected to boost the SEM market in Latin American region. The region’s revenue share is expected to increase with a CAGR of 11.6% over the forecast period.

North America was the second largest market for scanning electron microscopes in 2014 with a 36.10% share owing to presence of research and academic institutes and increasing number of clinical trials. Research-based activities in life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries are an integral part of innovation system in North American countries and this is expected to boost the demand for scanning electron microscopes in the region over the forecast period.

SEM Market Share Insights

The current extensively adopted strategic initiative by all key players is substantial investment in R&D of SEMs along with other collaborations such as new product launch, mergers, and acquisitions. For instance, Zeiss and UC, Berkley has got into public-private collaboration worth USD 12.0 million in May 2015 to support Berkley’s Brain Microscopy Innovation Centre.

Distribution channels include direct supply agreement between the manufacturers and end-users or maybe through third-party supply agreements. Nikon has entered into an agreement with JEOL Ltd. for the sale of JCM-6000 PLUS NeoScope.

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Segments covered in the report

This report forecasts revenue growth at global, regional & country levels and provides an analysis of the industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2012 to 2022. For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global SEM market report on the basis of end-use and region: